LM_NET: Library Media Networking
What a great topic. And I, too,love telling my story. For me, teaching was
already in the genes and as an undergrad English lit seemed like the
logical place to put my energy. But my student teaching experience was
mediocre at best and my first job was a disaster!
I'm proud of the fact that I actually survived the whole year, although I
can't count the number of times I thought about quitting, and I did a
suicidal Black History month poetry unit that included a liberal dose of
four letter words --none of the administrators paid any attention to this,
either. Oh yeah, I was assaulted the last month of school.
So I packed up and joined my fiancee without the benefit of a job yet. A
couple of interviews later I landed in the office of an elementary school
principal who couldn't afford a real librarian but was looking for someone
to do the job at a parapro level. Ha! Didn't take me long to realize how
ludicrous that was, but it was great experience and shear serendipity.
Serendipity also got me into grad school as my new wife landed a job not
far from a library school the next year.
The management aspect also appeals to me. My professional role model has
always been my father who manages a small community art center where he
does absolutely everything. I learned the joy of intellectual curiosity
watching him throw himself into researching every new exhibit. I probably
learned more about writing annotations from him than from library school
(paintings or books, there not all that different).
For some reason I've always felt more like a Young Adult librarian than a
school library media specialist. And I, too, am bothered by the name game.
The ultimate goal of Information Power is lifelong learning and we need to
do everything we can to show students how our facilities are like the
public library and help them maintain the habit.
I actually am a "cybrarian," too. I spend several late nights at home
combing the Internet for valuable education resources for a "virtual"
library called the Michigan Electronic Library. But even there, we virtual
librarians are still officially called "librarians."
While the technology has changed, the purpose of libraries remains mostly
unchanged. It would be a shame to lose a noble word associated with some of
the greatest elements of humanity in a vain effort to be "au courant."
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* Peter Butts * "...one man gathers what *
* East Middle School * another man spills." *
* 373 E. 24th St. * *
* Holland, MI 49423 * http://www.macatawa.org/~ems/ *
* pbutts@edcen.ehhs.cmich.edu * MEL--http://mel.lib.mi.us/ *
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